Roberta Presser

The film is so realistic it could have been set in an inner city classroom anywhere. Change the language, and it could have been my classroom in New York. Much has been lost with the inadequate French subtitles, so much so that I felt forced to watch it again in the English dubbed version. However, the problems of uprooted adolescents as they lurch towards maturity and understanding are universal, and the scene with the two student representatives at the faculty meeting underscores the gap between childhood and adulthood. One forgets that these scenes were actually directed, rather than caught inadvertently by the camera. It is a tour de force.